Cops go all out for MP's missing tap

What is more precious, a tap or a truck? Given that water conservation is a burning issue these days with several parts of Delhi going dry in the past few weeks, a tap's value could be more than its weight in gold.

And that could have been the Delhi Police's logic when they decided to register an FIR and carry out an investigation when a tap valued at less than Rs 300 went missing.

For the police, who more often than not choose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to complaints of robbery, vehicle theft, chain snatching and other such offenses involving the common man, the curious case of the missing tap was indeed serious matter.

For the tap was no ordinary one. It belonged to the house of Bhakta Charan Das, a Lok Sabha MP who stays at 5, Mahadev Road in central Delhi. The incident took place on July 4 and a case was registered at the Parliament Street Police Station.

Two persons were soon taken into custody and booked under three sections - 380 (theft in any dwelling, building or vessel), 411 (dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property) and 34 (act done by several persons with common intent) of the Indian Penal Code.

Going by the contents of the FIR, Das was not in his bungalow when the incident took place at around 7:30 in the morning. Dalip Singh, who works in the bungalow, told the police that he had heard sounds coming from the bathroom. On checking, he saw two persons run away with the tap from the bathroom.

The police swung into action and arrested Mukesh and Ispak, who were immediately sent to 14 days' judicial custody.

Some prompt action from the Delhi Police, who in an earlier incident, decided to go slow when a truck, valued at Rs 12 lakh, was stolen from Swaroop Nagar Extension in north Delhi.

The truck belonged to JM Chemicals.

One of its executives, Neeraj Pandey, has been running from pillar to post for some 15 days to get a case registered.

Pandey said that there were two 10-wheeler trucks stationed outside a godown in Swaroop Nagar and one of them was stolen on the night of June 25.

" When our staff noticed that the truck had been stolen, we immediately informed the police. It has been 15 days since the theft but nothing has happened. I visit the local police station almost every day but they simply refuse to register a case. The truck cost Rs 12 lakh but they refuse to register a case and investigate," Pandey alleged.

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